Leek in a blanket
filled with soft goat cheese, apricots and walnuts
Inspired on ‘pigs in a blanket’, I present you the one and only: leek in a blanket! It’s quick, tasty and multi-functional. Bang it on the middle of the table with a few beers, or use it as a centre piece for your next Christmas dinner. Change things up by adding different fillings, like dried figs or plums, different nuts, or a herb of choice. And of course, have fun decorating the big old pastry with leftover pastry! This recipe makes 2 leeks in a blanket.
Ingredients
2 large leeks
1 large roll of fresh puff pastry
200 gr soft goat cheese
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 large handful of dried apricots
1 large handful of walnuts
salt and pepper
A bit of fresh parsley (optional)
1 egg
Method
Preheat the oven to 190 ‘C and a large pot of heavily salted boiling water. We are going to boil the leek in this for 8 minutes. Since it probably won’t fit in the pan to put the leeks in whole, cut them in half once. Try to rinse out the sand in the top part of the leek as good as possible, maybe cut it open a little bit. After 8 minutes of cooking, take the leeks out of the water to cool down. Pat dry with some kitchen paper.
In a bowl, mix up the soft goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, honey, dried apricots (finely chopped) and walnuts (finely chopped). You could add a tiny splash of water to loosen things up. Season with salt and pepper, and add some chopped parsley if you want.
Spread out the roll of puff pastry on a lined baking tray. Slice it into two parts, one for each leek (if you only make one leek, use the rest for decoration). Spread the goat cheese mixture on the puff pastry. Place the leek on the pastry. Do this in a way that you can close the bottom, but that the top (greep part) of the leek sticks out of the pastry. Fold and close the pastry. Flip the leek upside down so that the top of the pastry is nice and even. If you have leftover pastry, use this for decoration. Whisk up the egg and brush the pastry before it goes in the oven. Bake for around 20 minutes, or until nice and golden. Right away, bang it on the middle of the table and: Enjoy!